Three rounds of clapping for a rake in Asakusa

A cheer from under the awnings, then three rounds of clapping. That’s what a sale can sound like at Asakusa’s Tori no Ichi. Some of the big kumade, bamboo rakes for good luck, have shop names hanging from them. At the first market this November, a ¥3,500 rake got the full sanbon-jime. The regular who went with that buyer usually takes home the shrine’s ¥1,000 bamboo charm. Sometimes there’s a name in that cheer. At a past market, a seller fitted a nameplate to the rake, called out the name and clapped with the buyer. A little envelope came with the rake. Inside was a five-yen coin to save for the following year, when the buyer could return the rake at the entrance and put that same coin in the offering box. The next market at Ōtori Shrine and neighboring Chōkokuji in Taitō opens at midnight as Wednesday turns into Thursday, Nov. 19, and runs all day.